Indian Idol. Really.?

Well... a number of interesting things happened this weekend, and I'll get into them as time allows me. For now? A tale.

I've always wanted to see a TV show taping... when Friends was on the air, it was like my ultimate dream to see a taping of the show. Now... I'd love to see, for instance, The Daily Show, or Letterman or Leno or something. Or The Price is Right. Ye-yeah.

Never, not once, in my life, did I ever imagine that Indian Idol would be the first taping--a live one, at that-- that I would attend. MMmmmwow.

It's kind of ironic... I've seen a cumulative total of MAYBE 5 minutes of American Idol. I don't know why the show bugs me (which is a lie, I do know, I'm just not in the mood to get into it right now), but it does. Now. Indian Idol is created by the exact same producers so everything is, literally, EXACTLY the same - the set, the music, the contest, the hype everthing... except it's Indian. Don't believe me? Click here.



No kidding.

So anyway, Ali and I find out on Saturday night that we would be attending the Grand Finale of Indian Idol on Sunday Night.

Now.

You thin Americans go nuts about American Idol, let alone the grand finale? From what I can tell, and I could be wrong, multiply that by about 83 and that's how crazy these Indians are for Indian Idol. Like.... completely nuts. It's also interesting how much politics are involved with it... the two final contestants had political and military ramifications as ramifications resulting in their win/loss. I don't know the details (well, I do know some but I don't know how much I'm @ liberty to disclose, based on the informer...) ... but it's crazy.

So here I am, 7th row, riots of people all around me, going nuts over these Indian rock stars and actors,... nuts to the point that people go for Leonardo DeCaprio, George Clooney, Dave Matthews (for me), etc etc etc. People were absolutely berserk.

As everything got closer to the "final decision," i.e., the announcement of the winner, the songs becames more intense and known by all (even I knew one of them... Chake-De... Chake-De Innndia!!) and people were coming up to the front and filling the isles and rows: standing in front of people in their seats, jumping up and down, sitting on people's laps, etc etc etc. It was crazy.

As it came down to the final announcement, I turned around and saw a the swarm of people who were standing all sit down practically simultaneously, and about a second later two things happenned: 1) the 3 people I was with yelled at me "SIT DOWN, NOW!" and 2) I saw military/police-types storming through the crowd with BAMBOO STICKS, hitting people. No kidding. Needless to say, I sat down in a hurry.

The winner was not the expected winner, and there were many disappointed people, including the party I was with. Again, much of this goes back to politics, and apparently within the last hour of voting (which, like the U.S., is done by texting via cell phones), this guy, Prashad, pulled it through.

One of the board members/founders/directors/etc of Maitri is buddies with the producer of the show, apparently, so we sat around afterward while he went backstage to hang out w/ those guys. There may or may not have been intentions to get us backstage as well (not that I would have known Cheech from Chong, but still, the hype was fun), but he ended up coming out a bit later and we went home.

It was quite an experience.

Pics are below, and I'll post the videos I have--which are NUTSO--(I have one of the guys w/ the bamboo sticks)... as soon as possible.

Indian Idol. Yup.